Sometimes it’s difficult to put into words why you like a particular singer or band; but with Amelia White her voice tugged at my very heartstrings the first time I heard it 5 or 6 years ago; and the stories she tells and the way she sings them makes me go weak at the knees every time they come out of the office Hi-Fi.

RHYTHM OF THE RAIN is Amelia’s 8th album in nearly twenty years and ( #SpoilerAlert ) is by far her most mature and probably the best I’ve heard.

The intro to opening track Little Cloud Over Little Rock sounds like a cool Indie Alt. Country band is about to kick in; them Amelia’s haunting and slightly smokey voice filters out of the speakers and a whole new aura envelopes the proceedings.

The story is full of intimate detail you’d normally associate with writers like Dylan and Joni or maybe Springsteen; not someone you’ve probably never heard of before. The character in the song has ‘dyed black hair and ear feather rings/she’s gotta put three kids through school/she’s sipping on the sly/to keep her cool’…..see what I mean? And it’s got a cool melody too.Songs like Sinking Sun and Yuma probably sum up my feelings about Amelia White best; not quite Southern Gothic, but pretty damn close and with a swampy Country feel to them too; sort of as if Bobbie Gentry was singing her saddest songs with Creedence backing her.There are Love Songs here aplenty; but not the ‘Moon in June’ type; these are dark and mysterious; the type you find later in life……listen to Sugar Baby and Supernova without getting a shiver down your back, and you are a stronger person than I am.

If this is your type of music; and I presume it is if you are still reading this far; you will absolutely love the title track Rhythm of the Rain; and my personal ‘favourite’ song here…….Let The Wind Blow, which closes the proceedings. In theory a simple enough song until you listen a second time, and even more intently the third and fourth times as a gorgeous story unfolds and unravels like a magical fairytale.

While these songs were written long before Amelia went into the studio; but when you realise that this album was written in the four short days between her Mother’s funeral and her own wedding; you will find an extra special spirituality in the way she delivers these beautiful songs.

No, there’s no sign of a cover of The Cascades’ 1962 hit here; it’s all very much contemporary Americana. Amelia White’s style is very distinctive, and this is emphasised by the spontaneous feel of “Rhythm of the Rain”, which was made in four days at a very turbulent time in Amelia’s life. When she growls ‘Don’t think too much, people’ at the beginning of the title song, you can take a literal interpretation or a sarcastic one. Either works, it just depends wahich song you’re listening to. It’s certainly never going to be described a bundle of laughs, with “Yuma” and “Sugar Baby” dealing with addiction and “Sinking Sun” staring into depression.

The musical stylings are pretty diverse, ranging from the adult-oriented-rock feel of “Sinking Sun” and “True or Not” to the laid-back Crazy Horse feel of “Supernova”. The album has a more raw, rockier edge than last year’s “Home Sweet Hotel”; although “Sugar Baby” opens with a menacing, ”Deliverance”-style banjo and eventually moves through the gears to “Sticky Fingers”-era Stones. Then there’s the title song, with a backbeat, swampy texture, and a sense of oppression and foreboding contrasted with the folky string band styling of the album’s closer which is enhanced by some nice Hammond organ.

There’s one song that stands out, even on an album packed with powerful songs and performances, and it’s a co-write with Lorne Entress and Lori McKenna. The skittering rhythms of “Said It Like a King” make the song feel like it’s rushing uncontrollably towards an unpleasant revelation; I may be looking for examples of this everywhere at the moment, but this song does sound like it might have been partly inspired by the leader of the free world. It’s about bullying and pulls together vignettes featuring a bully on the school bus, a hellfire preacher and a general delivering unpalatable messages which are accepted because each one “Said it like a king”. It’s a very clever lyrical idea, but the kicker comes in the final verse. No spoilers, you have to listen for yourself.

“Rhythm of the Rain” is an intense experience; even the opening song “Little Cloud Over Little Rock”, peeping into the lives of smalltown Americans having their Friday night fling to a soundtrack of Merle Haggard and George Jones is underpinned by the quiet desperation of the line ‘his friends are coming to drink their unemployment down.’ Is the album downbeat? Yep. Fraught? Sure. Compelling? Utterly.

“Rhythm of the Rain” is released in the UK on White-Wolf Records on Friday October 27th.

"White’s patternation of voice might not be to everyone’s taste – but those that don’t ‘get it’ are just wrong or maybe ill informed – or both. This is the real deal, full of juicy tunes; all in her lazy broken style, the woman just oozes cool. Her last record, Home Sweet Hotel was a real tour de force and this is no exception – White is in a real rich vein of form, the production is snappy, the band taught and on the money. Her art is prospering, and making the world richer.

A connected woman, there ain’t no one she don’t know, and nobody has anything but good to say about her, with the result that this album has some great co-writes; Ben Glover, Ann McCue, the UK’s Worry Dolls, and one of Nashville’s super-hot writers right now – Lori Mckenna. It’s all killer no filler for sure.

It is one of those records that’s great to start your day to, ease you into the grind, slip you from the sheets, pour your OJ, burn your toast and begin – with Amelia’s positive head on, workday blues are banished. Try it, the hamster wheel of life will be faced with a more positive gait.

Album favourite, ‘True or Not’ has a lovely Spanglish guitar and a great line about frittering away your time watching Elvis movies – it’s like she’s sat in my front room and watched me squandering my life to Roust-a-bout.

White has a UK tour shortly and with an album as good as this it’s truly an appointment not to be missed, this is a chance to see East Nashville’s finest at the top of her game – take it.

Amelia White, East Nashville Soothsayer and rock/Americana poet returns to UK with “Rhythm of the Rain” (To be released OCT 27th- Proper) a 9 song sunny storm of songs that illuminate the Ordinary with a a keen eye, and a lazy melodic sensibility.

2016 was a good year for Amelia White in the UK, where her last full-length release, “Home Sweet Hotel,” landed some killer reviews, like a “Top of Country pick “in the Telegraph (along with Buddy Miller, Bonnie Raitt, and John Moreland.) She played Maverick, Summertyne, and Platform festivals, along with a month of club dates. While touring White stayed in a promoter’s attic in York, and reading the news from the US began to write, the songs that would make up “Rain.” That ocean of separation gave her the necessary distance to comment on the shake-up back home without finger pointing, something that White has always done. No judgement, just sharp observations that lead to emotions. Music City Roots host and journalist Craig Havighurst wrote that “her songs each have some fascinating crystalline shape that invites close attention and touch. “Rhythm of the Rain” is a collection of tunes touched by White’s tenure in theUK, and she’ll release it Oct. 27th, 2017 (Distribution through Proper Records) as an offering of thanks for feeling embraced just when she needed it.